Obama: Ban assault weapons, expand background checks

NRA opposes most of president's initiative, calls him an 'elitist hypocrite'

Jan. 17, 2013

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, talks about proposals to reduce gun violence Wednesday in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington. / Charles Dharapak/Associated Press

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama unveiled the most sweeping set of gun-control proposals in two decades Wednesday, a package that includes universal background checks on all gun buyers and a renewed ban on “military-style” assault weapons.

Obama also proposed restrictions on ammunition magazines to no more than 10 rounds, as well as new school safety and mental health programs, all designed to prevent shootings like the one last month at an elementary school in Connecticut.

“This is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe,” he said at a White House ceremony. “This is how we will be judged.”

The president and Vice President Joe Biden — who developed the plan after a series of meetings with groups involved in gun violence issues — appeared with children who wrote letters to the White House expressing concern about gun violence.

After reading some of those letters, Obama said: “And these are our kids. This is what they’re thinking about. And so what we should be thinking about is our responsibility to care for them, and shield them from harm.”

The National Rifle Association, the nation’s largest gun lobby, has vowed to fight the gun-control proposals. The NRA has proposed putting armed guards in all schools and expanding databases to block gun purchases by people who have been declared mentally ill.

Before Obama’s event, the NRA released a video criticizing the president as an “elitist hypocrite” for opposing armed guards in every school even though his daughters receive Secret Service protection. White House spokesman Jay Carney called the ad “repugnant and disgusting.”

Also attending were family members of victims of the Dec. 14 attack that killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Obama said no law can “prevent every senseless act” but can be valuable if it can prevent even one attack.

The White House issued a written plan with four goals: Keeping guns out of the wrong hands, getting “weapons of war” off the streets, upgrading school safety, and improving mental health services.

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It includes 23 executive orders that Obama plans to address immediately, without the need for approval by Congress.

Among the proposals:

Keeping guns out of the wrong hands: The White House is proposing “universal background checks” designed to get at private gun sales that are not covered by the current system, which applies to federally licensed dealers. The plan also includes four executive orders designed to remove barriers to information sharing among state and federal agencies.

Restricting “weapons of war”: Obama’s plan calls for limiting ammunition magazines to no more than 10 rounds. The document notes that the Newtown killings and the July attack in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., involved the kinds of semiautomatic weapons that were targeted by the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. The administration also wants to maintain the effort to ban armor-piercing bullets.

School safety: The plan proposes money to help local school districts hire 1,000 new school resource officers and school counselors.

Mental health: The administration is proposing Project AWARE, which stands for Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education. It would be designed to identify mental illness early in young people and refer them for treatment. Obama said he will direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to step up research into the causes of violence, and ask Congress to fund research into the effect of violent video games on young minds.

The president also proposed harsher punishments for gun trafficking between states, as well as federal money to help cities pay for more police officers.

In addition, Obama nominated a new leader for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; his previous nominee has been held up for years.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said after Obama’s remarks: “House committees of jurisdiction will review these recommendations. And if the Senate passes a bill, we will also take a look at that.”

Biden said he has no “illusions” about the political challenges, but the Newtown shooting has shaken the nation’s conscience: “The world has changed.”